Education

Michael Grahamslaw Meetschris Johnson Head Teacher At Argyle House School, Sunderland

Issue 19

What was your background prior to joining Argyle House School?

I graduated with a degree in environmental science before subsequently qualifying as a teacher.

What do you feel have been your major achievements at the school?

There’s been various accomplishments recently which I’m particularly proud of. In addition to updating our facilities and increasing our wider partnership links, we’ve also devised new curriculums with our pupils in mind which feature extra GCSE subjects. Perhaps most impressively, we also attained the highest possible rating by ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate) in our most recent inspection. There’s certainly much to enthuse about!

Can you highlight some key student accomplishments over the past 12 months?

Over the previous year a number of students have really excelled in their sporting endeavours with notable examples including two brothers who claimed gold in Gymnastics and a young female student who represented Great Britain in Karate.

What do you consider to be the most important aspect of education?

I think Argyle House School is a unique educational environment where children come willingly to learn. We consider the happiness of the children to be the key factor in both academic and social success. Offering the children a broad based education enables them to develop and extend areas of strengths and interest. We emphasise that education is something to be enjoyed and must allow the children to develop not just academically but also socially, emotionally and physically.

What are the core beliefs of

Argyle House?

We encourage children to be resourceful, resilient, respectful, responsible, reflective and to possess the ability to reason. This is achieved through the dedication of our teaching staff, smaller class sizes and the quality of the facilities available to students.

How much emphasis do you place on

extra-curricular activities?

We believe that extra-curricular activities are crucial to the development of the child. Our numerous clubs and activities are far-ranging and we often have over twenty running at any one time.

What positive changes have you seen in education generally during your tenure?

It’s been nice to witness positive changes to the exam system which has made things a lot fairer for students.

What changes would you like to see

going forward?

I’d like to see all issues with the government resolved before any further changes are put into place.

Where do you see yourself and the school

in five years time?

I hope I’ll be at Argyle House continuing the great work we’re currently carrying out. I also wish to further increase the facilities on offer.

Away from the school, how do you

like to relax?

Spending time with my family takes up a large chunk of my time and I especially enjoy watching my boys play football. In addition to this, I can often be found swimming or walking the dogs.

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